Humiliation and potential trauma for prisoner's in Zimbardo's experiment
Sociocultural cognition
Role of Situational and Dispositional Factors in Behavior
Actor-observer effect - attribute behavior to situational factors for ourselves but to dispositional factors for others
Fundamental attribution error - overvalue dispositional internal factors but undervalue situational external factors
I did well on the test because I'm smart (dispositional) not because the test was easy (situational)
Attribution Errors
Fundamental Attribution Error
Illusory Correlation
Self-serving bias
Modesty bias
Evaluation of Social Identity Theory (Tajfel)
Based on social categorization
We categorize as in-group (us) and out-group (them) even when randomly assigned to a group
Self-esteem is created by comparing the benefits of belonging to the in-group instead of the out-group
Cialdini//et a//l.. (1976) found college football supporters were more likely to represent their winning team by wearing team clothing and other insignia than when the team lost
Bias to view group actions as positive because of our human need for a positive self-concept
Boys randomly assigned to a group based on their preference for Klee or Kandindsky paintings rated the out-group as less-likeable even though the out-group members were never actually disliked (Tajfel et al., 1974)
Further research has shown that group identity alone is not enough to produce intergroup conflict - there must be competition as well
Evaluation
Describes but does not predict
There are situations where personal identity is stronger than the group identity
Theory on its own is reductionist because it ignores the interaction of the environment and the self
Think about cultural expectations, rewards as motivators, sense of belongingness, rewards used to motivate the in-group
Formation of Stereotypes and their Effect on Behavior
Social cognition
Stereotyping is a naturally occurring cognitive phenomenon to conserve resources
Individuals in a situation where they could be judged can inadvertently confirm a stereotype
African Americans told that a test of verbal ability genuinely represented their verbal skills performed worse than European Americans
When African Americans were told that the test was used to study how problems are generally solved they performed as well as the European Americans
Steele (1997) argues that spotlight anxiety is responsible for stereotype threats because the emotional distress and pressure can undermine performance
Campbell (1967) two sources stereotypes
Personal experience with in-group members and the groups themselves
Gatekeepers like the media, parents, teachers and other members of our culture
Campbell says there is some truth to our stereotypes and that we generalize an experience with one in-group member to the entire group
Criticism - errors in attribution are very common
Hamilton and Gifford (1976) claim that illusory correlations are responsible for stereotypes
We see a relationship between two variables that actually have no relationship and overestimate a link between the two variables
A woman who is awful at driving
After the illusory correlation has been made we use confirmation bias to gather more evidence to support our illusory correlation
We will tend to find more bad female drivers but ignore female race drivers
General evaluation
Investigating stereotypes is difficult because of the social desirability effect
Researchers are instead using implicit measures of prejudice such as the IAT which has its own array of problems
Interestingly, Williams Syndrome individuals do not show racial stereotypes but do show gender stereotypes (Santos //et al//., 2010)
Social norms
Social Learning Theory
Social learning involves
Attention - pay attention to model
Retention - remember behavior observed
Motor reproduction - have the ability to emulate the observed action
Motivation - observers must want to demonstrate what they have just observed
Huesmann & Eron (1986) longitudinal study discovered a positive correlation between number of hours of violent television watched and their levels of aggression as teenagers
Canadian children became more aggressive 2 years after television was introduced (Kimball & Zabrack, 1986)
Evaluation of Social Learning Theory
Helps explain how behaviors can be passed on without trial-and-error learning
Behavior can be acquired but not demonstrated
Makes it difficult to establish that the behavior is a result of socially learned behavior
Cannot explain why some people never learn a behavior despite observation, retention, motor reprodction and motivation
Culture: is a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior
Culture: The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning
Culture: all the things that make up a people's entire way of life
Culture Norms
Cultural norms are patterns of behavior typical of a specific group normally passed down from generation to generation via observational learning.
They can be thought of as traditions like wedding rituals or rites of passage, ways of raising children and views on how to care for the elderly.
Role of Cultural Dimensions on Behavior
Individualism/Collectivism
Masculinity/Femininity
Emic and Etic Concepts
Emic - relates to the intrinsic values of the society that are important to its members
Etic - relates to extrinsic properties of a society that are important for scientific observation
Principles
Principles of the Sociocultural Level Demonstrated in Theories and Research
Research Methods
Sociocultural cognition
Role of Situational and Dispositional Factors in Behavior
Attribution Errors
Evaluation of Social Identity Theory (Tajfel)
Formation of Stereotypes and their Effect on Behavior
Social norms
Social Learning Theory
Compliance Techniques
Evaluation of Research on Conformity to Group Norms
Factors Influencing Conformity
Cultural norms
Definition of Culture and Culture Norms
Three definitions of culture (Peace Corps, as cited in PBS)
Culture Norms
Role of Cultural Dimensions on Behavior
Emic and Etic Concepts
Additional Resources